


Once Upon a Dream

by lostintheclouds321



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Basically it takes place after Infinity War but peter is still alive (for reasons), Canon Divergence - Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Fluff and Angst, Gen, Peter Parker Whump, Peter Parker is a Good Bro, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Pre-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:28:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27776122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lostintheclouds321/pseuds/lostintheclouds321
Summary: After almost losing Peter on Titan, Tony's turned his attention to family. They're all quite content living next to the lake. Now, if only the Avengers would stop getting in their way!
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 11
Kudos: 103





	Once Upon a Dream

**Author's Note:**

> Basically I had 5000 words of this written by 08/13 but I stopped because I've been trapped by the BNHA fandom (and still am) but wanted to finish and publish this. Because I'm still part of the Marvel fandom, I promise!!!  
> I hope you enjoy, this is a personal favorite brain worm of mine <3

The first three years after the blip passed impossibly quickly. At least, in Tony’s perspective.

At first, the streets had been filled with chaos and there had been no order. Everyone walked their own path and didn’t particularly care about the consequences to their actions. The whole world was divided by the hurt and loss they had gone through.

Not a single person was left untouched by the effects of the blip.

The divide didn’t last long. Resources were allocated and everyone ended up in a home. Kids who lost their parents were eventually taken in by families. The remaining government pulled itself together and enacted program after program to secure good faith and the economy.

Tony, encouraged by Pepper, had a hand in putting everything together by putting pressure on the right officials and creating websites and the like to assist in the efforts. It was hard, especially after losing so many people, but he had his family behind him. The blip could have been a lot worse.

Once New York was coming back together and the country was on its heels, Tony and Pepper decided to retreat to a cabin on the lake. Naturally, they brought Peter Parker with them. The teen, after the snap, had no one.

It was bad enough that he lost all of his friends and ended up on a traumatic space journey, but his last remaining relative had been blipped away as well. Tony couldn’t abandon him, not in a million years, so he and Pepper talked and decided to take him in. It had been an easy decision.

Admittedly, it was hard in the beginning. Peter continued to be formal with them and a bit awkward as well. He kept his grieving to himself and considered himself unwelcome in their living quarters. It was concerning, to say the least.

Tony and Pepper made their best efforts to help him adjust and they did pretty well. Soon enough, Peter was attending counseling and was more open with them. After that, he fit into their family easily. The final push of him accepting that they actually wanted him around was, surprisingly, Morgan’s birth.

Before she was born, he’d been extra cautious around Pepper and remarkably helpful around their home. They were worried that Morgan’s birth would push him back into his shell but, instead, he embraced the ‘big brother’ title before the baby had even taken her first breath.

From then on, their family was truly complete and Tony would do anything to protect them. Even as time rushed by and some events blurred together, they couldn’t be happier. Somewhere, in all the horribleness of the world, they were able to salvage what joy they had and build it stronger.

Of course, they had bad days sometimes; but they were all improving. Now, if only the Avengers would stop interfering in their life.

Tony and Pepper are already sitting down but Peter is determined to get everything ready. The two adults watch on fondly as he rummages around the house for everything he needs. Morgan is held up by one arm and her arms are wrapped tightly around his neck. The whole scene is painfully domestic.

The teen makes it back to the couch pulling off some sort of balancing act. In just one arm he has a bowl of popcorn, the remotes they need, and the two movies they’re watching. They _were_ just going to watch one – _Jurassic Park_ – after Morgan went to bed, but Peter insisted they include the toddler. So, first they would be starting off the night with _The Little Mermaid_. Morgan was ecstatic and Peter wasn’t far behind in terms of joy.

Peter plops down on the couch on the empty cushion next to Tony and settles in so that everything is in order. Morgan is sitting happy in his lap and eating her popcorn one at a time.

It’s nice having his kids on one side and Pepper on the other. He pulls his wife closer and they start to watch the movie. Peter and Morgan coo at all the right moments and Tony isn’t sure if the teen is just doing it to go along with Morgan or because it’s a natural response. Either way, movie night is going well.

However, just as the crab begins to serenade the prince and the mermaid on the boat, Tony hears the unmistakable sound of a whirring engine. His head swivels to look out the window and a subtle blue light shines in.

Tony is the first to react and the movie is paused in an instant. Peter, surprisingly, hasn’t made any moves to show that he heard the engines and continues watching as if nothing is wrong. Tony stands up from the couch, all too quickly, and is rewarded with concerned looks from Peter and Pepper.

“Are you okay, Tony?” Peter asks. God, it had taken so long for Peter to start calling him by his first name and to hear him say it in such a worried voice puts a vice grip on Tony’s weak heart. Still, it’s odd that the teen hasn’t noticed anything – especially with his enhanced senses.

“You mean you don’t hear that?” he asks for clarification. Peter’s face goes blank, just for a second, as if he’s trying to tune into his surroundings. Once he’s back his eyes are narrowed and his grip on Morgan is a little tighter, a little more protective.

He tilts his head in acknowledgement, “I suppose I was just too focused on the movie,” he jokes, and Tony lets his worries drift from his mind. “Should we go investigate?” Peter asks.

Tony nods, it was a concerning noise considering not many people knew about this property. They didn’t exactly get a lot of visitors. The engineer had drawn himself away from a lot of his connections in favor of spending time with his family.

He hadn’t even touched his Iron Man suits since he came back from space with Peter in his arms. It was no doubt sitting cold in a bunker somewhere. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t prepared for a situation like this.

Peter stands up and hands Morgan to Pepper. The two of them end up going deeper into the house in case it’s a serious threat. Pepper wishes them luck and Tony hopes they don’t need it. The two former heroes venture closer to the door.

At the front of the house is an Iron Man gauntlet that they’ve been using as a keyholder. He shakes all the keys off of it and equips the technology. It flickers to life in recognition of his wielding. Peter grabs his web shooters from one of the drawers in the kitchen.

What an interesting pair the two of them made – past heroes who had retreated to the woods for family.

Silently, they creep out the main entrance with Tony leading the way. They make their way around the porch until they’re on the side of the house the light was coming from. The light is no longer present and Tony can’t make out much in the dark. Peter can.

The teen doesn’t make any mention of what he can see so they keep going. Eventually, they get to the light switch that controls the porch lights and Tony cautiously flicks it on, gauntlet at the ready. Once its on, the first thing Tony sees is one of his suits. It’s big and definitely an older model but it also isn’t one he uses: War Machine.

Next, he sees Rhodey of all people coming closer with his hands up in a mock surrender and a tight smile on his lips. Tony has never seen his friend look so tense. A part of him worries that they could be in danger, but with Peter’s spidey-sense (or the ‘Peter tingle’ as his aunt liked to call it) he isn’t terribly put out.

Rhodey comes closer to them. When he looks at Peter, Tony can see the mistrust in his eyes. It fires up something in the engineer. Why would his friend look at his kid like that?

Regardless, Rhodey ignores Peter and puts a hand on Tony’s arm once he’s close enough. They make eye contact and it feels like his friend is trying to tell him something without any words but Tony can’t make out the message.

His friend positions the two of them so that he’s directly in between Tony and Peter, “Tony, you gotta get out of here. It’s not safe,” he presses without giving any details.

Tony takes a step back from all the intensity, “Is there something wrong with you? Even if we were in danger, I wouldn’t leave without my family.”

His friend narrows his eyes, “You don’t understand-“

“You’re damn right I don’t understand. Are we under attack? Do you want me to go on a mission? Explain!”

Peter helpfully chimes in, peeping his head over Rhodey’s shoulder, “My spidey-sense isn’t going off, so we’re safe here.”

That only leaves one reason Rhodey would be so eager to get him off the property, “I _told_ you I wasn’t doing any more missions. You’ve got the rest of the Avengers to take care of that. I’m staying _here_.”

Rhodey looks betrayed at his words and his brows come together in frustration, “No, Tony, we don’t have any time. You’ve been here too long!” he proclaims in desperation. The emotion in his voice is enough to make Tony to consider hearing him out if it was _that_ important. The man in front of him wasn’t one to make frivolous demands, maybe he should trust him.

Somewhere in the middle of all his thoughts, Peter must have walked around the two men because Tony feels a slight tug on the back of his shirt. When he looks behind at the teen, all of his doubts disappear. With his kid in front of him looking just as worried as Tony feels, he remembers why he’s staying here.

He had promised Pepper, his family, and himself that he’d keep everyone safe. Oftentimes, that meant having to protect _himself_ first. If he was running off on missions, he couldn’t do any of that. Tony wouldn’t be able to bear leaving his family all alone.

Tony looks into Peter’s soft brown eyes and musters up a small smile for the kid – Peter smiles back. He wasn’t going anywhere.

When he looks back to Rhodey, the man is gone and so is his suit. It’s a curious happenstance but Tony lets it fade from his memory as he walks back inside to resume movie night.

Despite Pepper and Morgan going off to stay safe, once Peter and Tony walk back in, the other two are still comfortable on the couch. Tony returns the gauntlet to the table at the front door and the keys all magnetize themselves back to the weapon.

He sits down as Peter returns his web shooters and as soon as they’re all comfy on the couch, the movie starts to play again.

Morgan certainly makes an effort to stay up later after the movie is done, but it’s futile. The second Morgan’s head falls onto her mother’s lap, Pepper takes her back to her room. Tony watches his two favorite girls leave and propositions watching another movie with Peter.

“One of those old movies you can’t get enough of?” Peter chides and Tony gives him a glare. Peter, likely knowing that it holds no heat behind it, just laughs, “I’m okay with whatever; especially with _everything,_ it would be good to forget.”

Tony can understand that all too well. Though he’d stopped drinking lately, sometimes all he wanted was to get the friends he’d lost out of his mind. He spared a moment to wonder if he’d possibly lost Rhodey as a friend when he didn’t go along with him, but practically scoffed at the thought.

He was _home_ with his family – with Peter, who he was seeing as a son more and more as the days went on. Tony couldn’t risk losing what he had. The engineer didn’t even want to consider it. Any thoughts of Rhodey quickly escaped his mind and he settled in to watch another movie.

Peter was wrapped up in a red throw blanket that he’d pulled from out of nowhere and offered one side of it to Tony. The man shifts so that he was closer to Peter. As the movie begins, Tony lets out a sigh. He’d missed this.

It’s a perfect day out on the lake. There’s a slight breeze and clear skies. The second Morgan ends up outside, the whole family knows that it’s going to be a while before she allows herself to be brought back inside.

After declaring that it would be a nice day to have a picnic, Pepper is quick to abandon Tony outside with Morgan and takes Peter with her. They spend almost half an hour preparing sandwiches and fruit to enjoy outside.

Tony and Morgan explore as far as the young girl’s small legs will take her. Then they go even further as Tony supports her endeavors to explore and discover. Once she finds a stick, Morgan quickly distracts herself with digging a hole in the grass with it.

That is where they end up setting up the picnic when Peter and Pepper join the two of them. They lay out a picnic blanket and bask in the rays of the sun.

As they sit and enjoy the day, Peter talks excitedly about a new project he’s working on for his online engineering class. Tony listens intently and even Pepper sprinkles in some questions. Peter does well with the attention and is sure to explain it as well as he can.

Right before Peter can finish telling Tony about the programming he’s done for it, their outing is interrupted by an unexpected guest. Natasha Romanov strides up to them with a bottle of wine awkwardly propped up by her arm. Her hair is as blonde as the last time he saw her and she has a strained smile on her face.

He’d have thought that she was better at controlling her emotions after all her time as a spy. What was it about a simple picnic that was breaking down her defenses?

“Hey, Tony,” she greets him and wipes the unease off of her face, “I tried the door-bell but no one came,” she jokes. He feels a bit off center with her presence for some reason. Almost like she doesn’t fit in with the world around him.

“Nat? What are you doing here?”

The spy shrugs, “It’s just been a while; I wanted to check in on you guys,” she says. Her eyes trail over everyone behind Tony before locking onto Peter with a bit more interest than he expected.

“How about you join us then?” he asks – it’s mostly for Peter. He recalls the teen’s fascination with the Black Widow. When Tony told him he had the schematics of her weapons, Peter was quick to jump on the offer to look at them.

The engineer believed the teen to be relatively impressed with the woman. However, when Tony looks over at Peter, he has a frustrated look on his face. It disappears as soon as he notices Tony’s gaze and suddenly he’s smiling again. It’s a bit odd but not completely out of the realm of Peter’s behavior – he is a teenager after all.

Natasha sits down on their blanket and Peter holds out a sandwich for her. She regards it warily before cautiously sticking out a hand to grab it. Now that she’s joined them, there’s a certain tension brought to the picnic.

Tony takes it upon himself to start a conversation or do anything to stop the weird mood on the blanket, “What have you been up to anyway, Nat?”

“Actually, I just got back from a mission in Kazakhstan; something Wong – the sorcerer – asked us to do.” Natasha goes on to explain what the mission had been about and Tony wonders if _this_ was what Rhodey visited him for all those months ago.

Natasha tells them about a sentient wristlet (which he thinks sounds ridiculous) that can give the user a ‘new reality.’ A sorcerer had gone rogue and stolen the wristlet before retreating to the Eastern country. Wong wanted them to stop the ritual he would be doing to activate it.

Tony was quick to interject that such an artifact sounded all too much like Thanos’ previous mission. If they had another psycho like that running around, Tony wasn’t sure what he’d do if he succeeded. As it was, he’d barely made it out of the last disaster with his family intact.

Natasha assured him that the wristlet wasn’t capable of what Thanos had done. While the country and surrounding area would be fine, the ‘reality’ wouldn’t be real. Eventually the wristlet would take control of his body while keeping him trapped in a dream. Wong wasn’t sure what it would do then, which is part of what made it such a threat.

Before Tony can ask any further follow-up question, Peter points out a hot air balloon up above them. The contraptions flew over the lake on occasion as there was a nearby event center nearby. This one was made up of bright yellows and oranges. Even Morgan takes notice, she drops her stick to point at the hot air balloon, “It’s a balloonie!” she exclaims joyously.

As his family watches it, Tony finds himself smiling. The expression is only dulled by the fact that he can’t shake Natasha’s mission out of his mind. It felt _important_ , “Who did you go with? Rhodey?”

Natasha gives him a grin like he’s a target she’s set her sights on, “Do you mean you don’t remember, Tony?”

“Remember what?”

“We went to Kazakhstan together; you even found the sorcerer,” she informs him.

He looks at her incredulously but can’t see anything amiss on her face, “That’s impossible. When I said I wouldn’t go on missions anymore, I _meant_ it,” Tony says sternly.

Natasha isn’t cowed by his tone at all, “And I can promise you that I’m not lying. You were there with me. Tony, don’t tell me that this doesn’t sound familiar.”

The engineer thinks about everything she’s said about it; but he doesn’t want to believe her. He hasn’t left the lake in ages, much less the _country_. Yet, there’s a tug in the back of his mind telling him to listen to her.

Interrupting his thoughts, Morgan starts to cry. He looks over at her and sees that she’s still looking at the hot air balloon. Except, it’s on fire. Peter is already running back to the house as the balloon is sinking.

When he’s sure that Pepper is working to calm his kid down, he stands up and runs after Peter. They both end up in the boat and speed out to where the balloon is slowly descending. The people inside have already jumped out into the lake.

They stall the boat near the swimmers and three people get on: two men and one woman. Peter is doing a splendid job at helping everyone onto the vessel, “Are you all okay?” he asks once everyone is settled. Tony takes over the steering while Peter pulls out the towels they have on board.

“I guess we’re just shook up,” one of the men mutters, “I don’t even know how it happened. We seriously lucked out that it happened over the lake.”

“Do you have someone who can pick you up here? I don’t think there are any taxis or ubers in service out here,” he says apologetically.

This time, the woman speaks up, “Yeah, if you don’t mind me using a phone, I have an employee who can come ‘round.” Peter assures her that she can use their landline as service is a bit spotty.

The ride to shore doesn’t last much longer than the short conversation and the kid uses it to introduce the two of them, “My name is Peter and this is my- um, this is Tony.” Their ‘guests’ respond enthusiastically and take turns saying their names.

They all get off the boat together and Pepper is standing by the shore with Morgan in her arms. The hot air balloon is finally sinking into the lake but the part of it that’s still above water remains alight.

Pepper places a squirming Morgan in his arms and she calms down. With his kid in his grasp, his mind calms down and he feels more at ease. Peter leaves to grab a phone for their surprise guest.

“Where did Nat go?” he asks his wife.

Pepper looks towards the path to the house, “She left rather suddenly. I think she got a phone call.” Tony doesn’t question any further; Natasha _has_ always been flighty – she was always answering calls for missions and the like.

They end up following Peter to the house to take care of everything and give the complicated directions to their house. He isn’t terribly worried about these people giving it away because of the heavy defenses he has around the perimeter for any road vehicles or travelers. Plus, for some reason, they didn’t seem to recognize him.

The three people are picked up surprisingly fast and are on the road within minutes after thanking the family over and over again. Peter has a satisfied and caring look on his face as they watch them drive away, “I’m glad they were okay,” he says after looking to Tony.

“Yeah, you handled that pretty well, Peter,” he spares one arm to ruffle the kid’s hair and Peter blushes. His family ends up sitting at the table and Pepper feeds Morgan the food the girl didn’t quite finish during the picnic.

“Thanks. I just act on instinct when I see people in trouble,” he admits while ducking his head.

“That’s my underoos,” he says. But he’s starting to wonder about if being at the lake is really the best thing for Peter. After all, there weren’t many people to save out here (despite the three people today who tried to prove him otherwise). Peter had always been very adamant about continuing to be Spider-Man and going out to save people, “Do you want to go back to being Spider-Man anytime soon?”

At the question, Peter’s blush recedes and his shoulders tense up, “Well, I don’t think so. Not now, at least. I think that being in Queens would be too hard. Plus, I don’t think they really need me right now – there’s barely any crime after all.”

Tony would digress. People always needed a hero – someone to look up to. He can imagine Queens thriving with Spider-Man to look after them and just offer a strong presence. But he completely understands that Peter can’t be that right now. It’s been three years but he’s had to process the loss of his Aunt and all of his friends. That wasn’t something you simply came back from overnight.

The man would never push him back into being a hero. He knew what ignoring such serious problems could do to someone. He’d done it himself, after all.

“Anyway, I love living with you and Pepper and Morgan at the lake. I feel really lucky to have you guys,” the teen admits. Tony grins at how his ears are bright red.

“We’re just as lucky, Peter.” It’s true. He doesn’t know how they would have stayed together or managed so well without Peter. He was always there to help with Morgan, the chores, and just overall brightened up the house.

The teen gives him a shy smile, clearly happy with the complement. Tony’s suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to tell him more – express that Peter is as much a part of the family as any of them, “I’m serious, Peter. I see you as my kid, y’know?”

Peter looks surprised by this, “Really?” Tony gives a stiff nod, trying not to think about the emotion that would come out were he to speak again. The young hero stands up and makes his way over to Tony. Before he can even think, the teen has his arms wrapped around his shoulders and they’re hugging.

Tony reaches a hand around Peter’s back and pulls him closer.

“I guess I really can’t leave,” the teen says with a laugh.

“You’re pretty much stuck with us,” Pepper chips in and Morgan starts giggling in the corner.

A rare smile finds its way fully onto Tony’s face. He can’t remember the last time he’s been this happy. It feels like, for the first time in a while, his family is finally completed.

Tony walks up the stairs to where Peter’s room is and knocks on the door as quietly as he can. There’s a tired groan on the other side and Tony knocks again, “Come in,” Peter drawls and Tony acquiesces.

Once he’s inside, he can see Peter lying halfway off of his bed looking close to falling off. His hair has fallen off his forehead and looks like a mess as it droops down to the floor – it’s a bit long and Tony wonders if the kid needs a haircut.

“Underoos, get out of bed, we’re leaving soon.”

Peter’s eyes narrow and he flips out of bed – when he’s facing the wrong way he turns around. “Where are we going?” he asks, clearly having forgotten the conversation they had the other night. Tony gives him a pointed stare until the teen remembers, “Oh! The city, I’m so excited!” he cheers, more awake than when Tony first entered the room.

The teen looks at the clock on his bed side, “But why are we leaving so early?” he whines.

Tony doesn’t bother answering that question, trusting that when Peter’s brain is completely awake he’ll be able to figure out that they’ve still got a three hour drive before they can do _anything_ in the city. The engineer rented a hotel penthouse for them to stay the night, but there was a lot they wanted to catch up on in the city. They could use all the time they could get.

The whole reason for the trip was to celebrate him finishing all of his online classes. They were all college classes even though he hadn’t officially entered any college yet. He finished his senior year early last winter before taking a break.

Because of everything going on in the world, they decided it would be best for everything to properly settle before Peter went ahead and committed anywhere. Tony was grateful for the break, even if he wouldn’t admit it, because it meant having Peter part of their family a bit longer. Now, he could encourage him to go to MIT properly and Peter would start applying to colleges soon (there was no way Peter would get turned away).

The college classes he had just finished were more of a stimulator than anything as he was mostly taking them for fun. Still, they had brought some level of stress into his life and Tony believed he deserved a nice reward.

Closing the door behind him, Tony retreats back downstairs so he can make them some food before they leave. The man has no doubt that once they were in the car, Peter would fall back asleep for at least another hour, but it would be best to eat now.

He pulls out the ingredients that he would use in the omelets he’d decided to make and turns on his stove top. Making omelets came easy to him and, soon enough, he wasn’t thinking about much at all. A tired fog directing all of his available focus to the task at hand.

By the time he started adding the ham, Peter trudged down the stairs with a small bag full of what Tony presumed were clothes. The teen was practically sliding down the handrail as he refused to support his own weight.

Tony chuckles at the sight of the sleepy teenager before turning back to the omelets. Peter, somehow, manages to drag himself to the counter table and let out a big yawn, “G’morning dad,” he murmurs with his face pressed against the cool granite.

The engineer stiffens at the familiar yet foreign word but Peter doesn’t seem to realize what he just said. Tony’s heard it from Morgan endlessly, but he doesn’t think Peter’s ever called him that before. He smiles and decides not to mention it. He can simply enjoy the moment.

Once he’s finished up with breakfast, he plates up the food and slides it in front of the teen. Peter immediately perks up and grabs an offered fork so he can dig in. He manages to express his delight with the food by trying to talk over the food, but Tony is quick to shush him, even Morgan knows not to talk with her mouth full.

Taking a seat next to Peter, he digs in himself and finds he’s quite happy with the meal. Maybe not as happy as Peter, but he finds himself eating a bit faster than usual.

Even though Peter had more than twice the size of Tony’s breakfast, he manages to finish first and stands up to grab something to drink from the fridge, “Do you want anything Tony?” he asks over his shoulder.

Tony slightly deflates at the sound of his name but responds, “Nah, I already had my coffee, kiddo.”

Peter hums and pulls out the orange juice before pouring it for himself into a large glass and chugging the whole thing.

He watches the whole thing feeling very amused, _teenagers_. Tony probably did the same thing when he was younger, but with a lot more alcohol mixed in. He rolls his eyes at the thought and eats the last bite of his omelet.

Grabbing both plates at the counter, he heads over to the sink to rinse them off before putting them in the dishwasher. Before the closes the machine, Peter slinks over to put his cup on the top rack, “Haha, thanks Tony. I’m ready now, though.”

“Well, grab the keys, kid, ‘cause you’re driving,” Tony says with a wicked grin.

Peter swivels around with a certain terror in his eyes, “Ah, really?” he asks awkwardly, clearly not wanting to do it, but not wanting to put up a fuss.

“I guess I can spare you on the way over,” he says, ruffling Peter’s hair, “But you’ll definitely be taking the wheel at least once on the way back!” he claims.

The teen scowls up at him and pushes Tony’s hand off his head and tries to rearrange his curls. He’s not completely successful. Tony grabs for the keys and turns towards the garage. Peter follows after him.

Once they’re both situated in the car, Tony opens the garage and puts the key in the ignition before turning it. They’re in one of his older cars and the hum of the engine is a comfort to him. He turns on the stereo and Airbourne comes through. Peter tilts his chair back a bit and closes his eyes.

Then Tony’s driving out of the garage and down their driveway.

The drive over is rather peaceful. With one of his favorite bands on and Peter’s quiet snores next to him, he can’t imagine anything more relaxing. His window is cracked just a bit and the wind brushes through his hair and clears the air in the car.

Any traffic they encounter clears near instantly. It’s the perfect drive. Usually this road is stopped up by slow drivers or towns people just going about their daily lives. He’s never seen it like this before.

By the time new York City’s memorable skyline is in view, Peter is slowly stirring awake. But he smiles at the familiar sight and stretches his arms up to the roof of the car.

“Don’t stretch too hard, you remember what happened last time, right?” Tony jokes.

Peter turns a bright red in zero seconds flat, “Tony, you know that was an accident! I didn’t know the roof of the car would be so flimsy,” the teen insists wildly.

“Uh-huh, sure,” Tony says mock skeptically. Really, he’s more than aware of how Peter’s strength can get ahead of him sometimes, but it doesn’t really bother Tony. A bent fork or car hood, every once in a while, is worth it to have Peter here with him.

He doesn’t give Peter a chance to rebut his ‘skepticism,’ “So, what do you want to do first in the city?”

“Ah, let’s go to Central Park, okay? I want to go see the fountain!”

Tony raises an eyebrow but keeps his eyes on the road, “What, you gonna make a wish?” he jokes. There’s silence, “Oh? So you already have one in mind, huh, kiddo? What is it?”

“I – It’s silly, no, I just can’t tell you,” he says; immediately peaking Tony’s interest. He loves finding out things he isn’t supposed to know.

He tilts his head to the side, “Sure you can; I promise I won’t tell anyone,” he says with a grin.

Peter just laughs at him, “Yeah, I don’t think that’s how it works.”

“Well, what if I can help it come true?”

The teen lets out a long hum, “Doesn’t that just defeat the purpose of making the wish in the first place? Umm, fine, I’ll tell you after I make the wish, okay?”

It sounds like victory to Tony. He agrees with the teen and continues driving.

It doesn’t take long after their conversation for them to finally make their way into the city. Peter is excitedly looking around every street the drive down and even makes sure to point out one of the hot dog stands he frequented as Spider-Man.

Tony agrees with Peter’s excitement, returning to New York feels like coming home. Some of his best and worst memories happened in this city.

After a bit of luck, they park the car surprisingly close to the park. Tony throws on a thin jacket and follows an excited Peter to the park. They walk through easily, both of them having traced the paths countless times before.

As soon as the lake is in view, Peter separates from Tony and weaves through a few people to get to the fountain which is right in front of it. The older man continues after him, but he’s not heading anywhere in a hurry. Instead, he takes in the surroundings.

The air around him is pretty clear at the park and, for some reason, it’s not completely packed, despite it being a weekend day. Tony decides not to look the gift horse in the mouth and lets his gaze wander over everyone in the park.

Everyone there looks fairly normal but then his eyes catch on a familiar face: Steve Rogers. A feeling of anger ripples through Tony’s body just looking at the man. Even worse, the ex-hero has his gaze fixed firmly on Peter meaning he probably knows who the kid is. But the expression on his face isn’t one Tony would have expected to see. It’s not suspicious or menacing looking – instead, Rogers just looks remarkably sad. Either way, warning bells are ringing through Tony’s head.

In seconds, he’s sprinting forward towards Peter who has just thrown a handful of change into the fountain, “Yeah, yeah, I made the wish, you can hear it now,” he mutters in a joking tone.

“No, Peter, Cap is here,” he says harshly. Peter pulls himself away from the fountain and to attention. They both look across the plaza towards Rogers who has started walking towards them, “Oi, Rogers, what are you doing here?” he demands to know.

Rogers barely acknowledges the question, just keeps coming closer. Peter tenses up further with every step and Tony takes a step in front of them as a sort of shield, despite Peter being the stronger one of them.

“I have to get you out of here, Tony, it’s gone on too long! _You don’t even know where you are!_ ” he insists.

Tony narrows his eyes at Rogers; he knows exactly where he is – in New York City, defending his kid from a _monster_.

Before he can say anything, _Peter_ yells at Cap, “No, it’s you who needs to leave!” he insists before tugging on Tony’s jacket, “I think we need to go; there’s something wrong with him,” Peter says.

Peter is acting so out of character that Tony freezes for a second. It’s understandable for him to be nervous because of Rogers, but to straight up yell at him? It simply didn’t add up. And even if he was nervous, Peter wasn’t one to run – Tony would claim it one of his flaws, but he’d always been like that. The teen simply didn’t know when to quit.

Out of nowhere, Rogers pushes Tony to the side and starts attacking Peter. But the teen goes against the ex-hero just as viciously. Tony doesn’t have his suit on him and he feels like a fool. The two super humans are trading blows that cause shock waves throughout the suddenly park and Tony is completely useless as he can’t protect Peter in the slightest.

Soon enough, Peter’s going to get hurt and it’s all going to be Tony’s fault. It’s going to be like Titan all over again. But wait, Peter was fine at Titan, wasn’t he?

Tony takes a step towards the battle but is pulled back by someone’s hand on his arm and a soft voice in his ear, “Tony,” it whispers.

He makes a sharp turn to see none other than Pepper standing in front of him, “What, Pep? What are you doing here? Who’s watching Morgan?” he asks frantically.

“Happy is, but Morgan misses you very much; it’s been so long since she’s seen you, Tony,” she says to him, putting a soft hand up to his face. Tony hardly spares a thought to how he can’t remember the last time he saw Happy at all because a deep sadness rocks through his body. He could’ve sworn that he saw Morgan just last night, but that doesn’t feel right at all. How long has it been since he’s seen his baby girl?

“Pepper, do you know what’s going on?”

She nods and brings her hand down to the back of his throat, “Yes. Tony you need to come back home, and to do that you have to _wake up_ ,” she begs him.

“I don’t understand,” Tony says in a hoarse voice.

Pepper pulls him in and brings her other arm up to his neck so that’s they’re hugging. She rubs one of her hands on his back in a soothing motion, “Yes, you do.”

Behind them, the battle comes to a close. Tony and Pepper mutually separate from each other to see Peter standing, in rumpled clothes, all by himself. Rogers is nowhere to be found in the empty park. He and the teen make eye contact and Peter runs up to him, “Tony, you can’t leave me here!” he begs the man with tears in his eyes.

“Of course, I won’t, Pete, we’re going home together,” Tony says, taking the teen in for a hug.

He looks over to Pepper, but she just gives him a sad smile and shakes his head, “No, Peter can’t come with us,” she says, “ _He’s gone_ , Tony.”

“I’m not!” Peter insists, “I’m right here,” he cries out, clutching onto Tony’s arm just a bit too strongly.

But Pepper was right and Tony _does_ understand.

He vividly recalls Peter dying in his arms when they were up in space and returning to Earth without him – as a failure. It hadn’t been three years since the blip, it’d barely been two and Morgan was still a baby. His family had been missing Peter for longer than Morgan had been in it.

He also remembers the mission in question, the one Nat had tried to tell him about not so long ago. In a desperate reach for the wristlet, he’d activated it and must have been sucked in. He feels the strange feeling of tears rising up in his eyes. When was the last time he’d let himself cry?

Beside him, Pepper says, “We don’t have much time, Tony. Soon your mind will be totally taken over by the wristlet.”

He nods blankly but can barely stand to draw himself away from Peter – who’s right there, in front of him! He looks healthy, and older, and everything Tony ever wanted to see him grow up to be. Which, if this is really all an illusion based off of his desires, checks out, but it’s too good. Giving this up seems almost impossible.

“Peter, can you tell me what you wished for?” he asks patiently.

The teen sucks up his tears and nods, “Yeah, I wished that we could be family for forever,” he says, “If you go, it’ll never happen, Tony! Dad,” Peter pleads with him.

And Tony knows that this isn’t real, that Peter still hasn’t gotten over calling him ‘Mr. Stark’ but he lets himself bask in the moment, even if it’s just a tactic used by the mystical wristlet to keep him here, it still makes him impossibly happy to hear.

He has to go, but before he does, he wraps Peter in his arms one last time. The teen’s lanky body urgently returns the hug and he’s still pleading for Tony to stay. “I’m promise I’ll save you, Peter. No matter what it takes, because you’re my son,” he promises the not-Peter in his arms.

Letting go of him, has to be one of the hardest things Tony has ever done, but he manages to do it and return to Pepper – leaving Peter in the background. He grabs her hand and looks into her blue eyes, “I’m ready to wake up now.”

Tony wakes up.

All around him are the heroes he recognizes and saw when he was in the wristlet. He shakily sits up from his lying position and looks at all of them.

Then he turns his eyes down to his hands at his sides – he lifts one up to above his lap and watches as it shakes, “I have to get him back; will you help me?” he asks them looking up again.

Of all the people in the room, it’s Rogers who speaks up first, “We’ll be with you every step of the way, Tony.” And as everyone else there begins to agree with the first Avenger, all Tony can think about is how they’re going to do it.

**Author's Note:**

> Basically, if the Avengers told Tony directly what was going on or were too obvious about trying to take him out of the wristlet, they would have been dragged out, so they had to be kind of subtle. And this Peter was a combination of the wristlet trying to keep Tony in and Tony's memories/perception of Peter. As Tony is a kind of dynamic changing dude, so was Peter.  
> [Fanfiction Directory on tumblr](https://lostintheclouds321.tumblr.com/post/624753968518709248/masterpost-of-fanfiction-lostintheclouds321-boku)  
> Comments are greatly appreciated, even if this was kinda short :)  
> Jesi~


End file.
